Machine for feeding and driving pins.



W. F. FRASER. MACHINE FOR FEEDING AND DRIVING PINS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 5, 1911.

Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

3 SHBETS-SHEET l.

M 6 Ul/W COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO.,WA5HINGTON, I). C.

' (idm/Q M W. F. FRASER. MACHINE FOR PBEDING'AND DRIVING PINS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 5, 1911.

1 ,036,2 1 1 Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Zflz'zmesse s. 1721267122977 COLUMBIA PLANDORAPH Ctr-,WASHINGTON. n. c.

W. I. FRASER. MACHINE FOR FEEDING AND DRIVING PINS.

APPLICATION rum) AUG. 5, 1911.

1,036,21 1 Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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@M 5 wjj MUMIIA PLANOORAFH 60, WASHINGTON. l7. fir

UNTTED STATES PATEN T QFFTCE.

WARREN F. FRASER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR FEEDING AND DRIVING PINS.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, VVARREN F. FRASER, a subject of King George V, residing at- Dorchester, Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Feeding and Driving Pins, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine for feeding and driving headless pins which are pointed at one end thereof only.

The object of the invention is to provide a machine which will separate pins of the character set fort-h one by one from a mass of pins contained in a hopper and drive them into any desired piece of material, the machine being particularly adapted to separate and drive pointed headless pins through the felt bushings used in certain portions of piano actions, the machine also being adapted for driving the pointed headless pins through the felt bushing and to cut off the point which projects beyond said bushing after the pin has been driven therein. The invention consists in the combination and. arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the claims thereof. v

Referring to the drawings: Figure l is a side elevation, partly in section, of my improved machine for feeding and driving pins. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same, partly in section, on line 22 of Fig. 1, viewed in the direction of the arrows on said section line. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1, also viewed in the direction of the arrow on said section line. Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation through the hopper taken on line 4-4 Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional. plan taken on line 5 5 of Fig. 4, with the feed slide in its forward position. Fig, 6 is a sectional plan similar to Fig. 5 showing the feed slide in its rearward position, with a pin in position to be fed. forwardly by said slide. Fig. 7 is a sectional plan taken on line 7-7 of Fig. 4. Fig. 8 is a detail sectional plan taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 1 illustrating the mechanism for carrying the pins from the raceway to the driver, the same being shown with the carrier in alinementwith the raceway. Fig. 9 is a sectional plan, similar to Fig. 8, partly broken away and showing the pin carrier moved into the position occupied thereby when in alinement with the driver. Fig 10 is a detail section taken on Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 5, 1911.

Patented Aug. 20, 1912.

Serial No. 642,483.

line 10-10 of Fig. 1. Fig. 11 is a perspective View of the pin carrying mechanism.

Like numerals refer to like parts through out the several views of the drawings.

In the drawings, 15 is the frame of the machine in which is journaled a sleeve 16 fast to a driving pulley 17. The sleeve 16 is rotatable in suitable bearings 18, 18 in the frame of the machine and has teeth 19 provided at one end thereof which are adapted to engage similar teeth 20 upon the end of a clutch sleeve 21. The clutch sleeve 21 is slidable upon the cam shaft 22 and is held out of engagement with the driving sleeve 16 by a stop 23 adapted to engage a cam 24 formed upon the periphery of said clutch 21. A spring 25 is adapted to move the clutch 21 longitudinally of the shaft 22 until the teeth 20 engage the teeth 19, when said clutch is released by pulling the stop 23 downwardly out of engagement with the cam 24, and this downward movement is imparted to the stop 23 by a rod 26 connected to a suitable treadle (not shown in the drawings). The camshaft 22 is mounted in suitable bearings in the frame of the machine and in the sleeve 16.

The pins are placed in a hopper 27 in mass and are carried upwardly from the bottom of said hopper by a slide 28, as seen in Fig. 4. This slide is guided in ways 29, 29 in the cap plate 27 (see Figs. 5 and 6) and has a vertical motion imparted thereto by a link 30 (Fig. l) which is pivotally connected at one end thereof to the lower end of said slide and at the other end thereof to a lever 31 pivoted to a stud 32 fast to the frame of the machine. Said lever has a cam-roll 33 journaled thereon which engages a cam groove 34 in a cam 35 fast to the camshaft 22. Thus a vertical reciprocatory motion is imparted to the slide 28 which carries the pins upwardly until it arrives at the position illustrated in Fig. 4, when said pins roll oif of the beveled upper end of said slide into a passageway 36 in the upper portion 37 of a raceway 38. The pins 39 pass down said passageway untll they rest upon a horizontal slide plate constituting a carrier 40, as seen in Fig. 4. The lower part 41 of the raceway 38 is also provided with a passageway 42 which terminates at its upper end flush with the under side of the carrier slide 40, said passageway being grooved at 43, 43 on opposite sides lot:

thereof, respectively, to receive the pointed ends of the pins 39, the width of the passageway 42 at its upper end, measured from the bottoms of these grooves 43, 43 being substantially equal to the length of the pin which is to be fed therethrough. The opposite sides 42, 42 of the passageway 42 converge downwardly at 42 and terminate in a vertical passageway 42 of a width or diameter suificient to allow the pin to enter the same, said vertical passageway being adapted to hold and guide the pin into substantially vertical position. The passageway 42 continues downwardly from the lower part 41 of the raceway 38 through a helical spring 44, which forms a continuation of the lower part of the raceway and terminates at its lower end in an arm 45 which also forms a portion of the raceway and is fastened to a sleeve 46 which, in turn, is clamped to the frame of the machine by a plate 47 and screws 48. A vertical guide sleeve 49 is held in the arm 45 by a spring 50, the free end of said spring projecting intoan annular groove 51 provided in the periphery of said sleeve 49. The passageway 42, therefore, terminates at the bottom of this guide sleeve.

It will be noted that the lower end of the passageway 36 in the upper part of the raceway is out of alinement with the upper part of the passageway 42 in the lower part of said raceway and that the carrier plate 4O is adapted to slide in ways 52 provided in the raceway 38 and cap plate 27 This carrier slide has a slot 53 therein which extends therethrough and is of a length substantially equal to the length of one of the pins 39, said slot being reduced at its ends to a width of substantially the diameter of one of said pins. The carrier slide plate 40 is moved transversely of the raceway to bring the slot 53 into alinement alternately with the lower end of the passageway 86 and the upper end of the passageway 42 by a bifurcated rocker-arm 54 pivoted at 5-5, 55 to the frame of the. machine, the opposite ends of the carrier slide 40 projecting into notches or slots 56 provided in the upper ends of the vertical arms 54 of the rocker arm 54.

The horizontal arm 54 of the rocker arm 54 has a stud 57 fast thereto (see Figs. 1 and 6) which projects into a notch or recess 58, in the front edge of a link 59 which is pivoted at its upper end to a lever 60, said lever, in turn, being pivotally mounted at 61 upon the frame 15- of the machine. The lower end of the link 59 is held in engagement with the stud 57 by a spring 62, the object of this manner of connecting the link 59 at its lower end to the arm 54 being to allow the stud 57 to pass out of the notch 58 in case any obstruction to the movement of the carrier slide plate 40 should: Occur,

such, for instance, as a pin passing partly out of the slot in said slide into the lower passageway or passing partly from the upper passageway into said slot, or if the pin should be bent.

A rocking movement is imparted to the lever 60 by an eccentric 63 which is fast to v the cam shaft 22 and has mounted thereon an eccentric strap 64 which is connected to an eccentric rod 65, said eccentric rod terminating at its upper end in a sleeve 66 to which it is connected by a screw 67 having screw-threaded engagement with said rod 65 said screw being surrounded by a helical spring 68 which, at its lower end, bears against the upper end of the rod 65 and at its upper end bears against a shoulder 69 formed in the sleeve 66. The upper end of the sleeve 66 is bifurcated and is pivotally attached to a block 70 which, in turn, is pivotally connected to one end of the lever 60, forming a universal joint. The opposite end of the lever 60 is also bifurcated and pivotally connected to a collar 71 which has screw-threaded engagement with the upper end of a driver bar 72 adapted to slide vertically in the frame of the machine, and having fastened thereto, at its lower end, a driver 73.

The pins are fed one by one from the lower end of the raceway 38th-at is, from the lower end of the sleeve 49 forming a portion of said raceway, by a rocker arm or carrier 74 (Figs. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 and 11), which is fastened to a vertical rocker-shaft 7 5, which rocker-shaft extends upwardly there- ,from and has a bearing in the sleeve 46,

being held therein by a washer 76 and screw 77 at the upper end thereof. The rockerarm 74 has a sleeve or bushing 78 clamped therein by means of a screw 79, said bush-- ing being provided with a recess 80 adapted to receive a pin, said bushing having a hole 81 in the lower end thereof through which said pin is driven, as hereinafter de scribed. A second rocker-arm S2 is loosely mounted upon the rocker-shaft and is slotted at 83 to receive the rocker-arm 74., so that said rocker-arm 82 has an ear 84 thereon projecting down at one side of the rocker arm 74 and an ear 85 thereon proj-ecting down at the opposite side of said rocker-arm, and in the ear 85 is located a spring 86 which bears against one side of said rocker-arm 74. A stop-plate 87 is fastened to the lower end of the ear 85 and projects beneath the rocker-arm 74, covering the hole 81 when the parts are in the position illustrated in Fig. 8, but being moved away therefrom to uncover said hole when the parts are in the position illustrated in Fig. 9, by reason of the end of the rocker-arm 74 opposite that to which the bushing 78 is fastened being adapted to abut against an adjustable stop-screw 88 fast to the frame of the machine, when the parts are in the position illustrated in Fig. 9. A rocking motion is imparted to the rocker-arm 82 by a link 89 pivotally connected at one end to said rocker-arm and at its opposite end to a lever 90 (Figs. 1 and 3) said lever 90 having a cam roll 91 journaled thereon and projecting into a cam groove 92 in the cam blank 35.

The pin is carried from the lower end of the raceway into alinement with the driver by the rocker arm 74 and is then driven into the block or piece of material 93 which has been placed by the operator upon the work-table 94. The pin is driven into this block, which is usually provided with a hole in which the pin tightly fits or with a felt bushing having a hole extending therethrough into which said pin tightly fits, and the pointed end of the pin, after having been driven, projects below the end of said felt bushing or block. This pointed end is cut 011' by a pair of coacting cutters 95, 95 which are attached to slides 96, 96 adapted to slide in ways in the work-table 94 and having a reciprocatory motion imparted thereto by levers 97, 97, the upper ends of which project into recesses 98, 98 in said slides 97, 97, the lower ends thereof being provided with rolls 99 which are operated to rock said levers by a cam 100 fast to the front end of the cam-shaft 22. The cutters 95 are adjusted by means of screws 101, 101 having screw-threaded engagement with blocks 102, 102, and these blocks each have a pin 103 thereon which is adapted to project into holes 104, 104 provided in the worktable 94. As the cutters are ground away, they are adjusted by means of the screws 101, 101 toward each other. After a certain amount of the cutters has been ground away, the screw-blocks 102 are moved byplacing the pins 103, 103 in difierent holes 104, 104, and thus the cutters may be used and ground for an indefinite period.

The general operation of the mechanism hereinbefore specifically described is as follows: The pins 39 are placed in mass in a hopper 27, a reciprocatory motion being imparted to the slide 28 by the link 30, lever 31 and cam groove 34. Some of the pins contained in the hopper 27 are carried upwardly until the slide 28 arrives at the position illustrated in Fig. 4, when said pins roll off of the end thereof into the passageway 36 and down said passageway until the lowermost pin in the column rests upon the carrier slide plate 40. Assuming the parts, then, to be in the position illustrated in Fig. 4, said carrier slide is moved toward the right (Fig. 4) by the rocker arm 54, link 59, lever 60, connecting rod 65, eccentric strap 64 and eccentric 63, until the slot 53 in said slide alines with the lower end of the passageway 36, whereupon the lowermost pin in said passageway will drop into said slot. The motion of the slide 40 then being reversed and moved toward the left (Fig. 4) said lowermost pin will be carried forward until it is in alinement with the upper end of the passageway 42. As soon as the pin arrives in alinement with the upper end of the passageway 42, the pointed end thereof will drop into the groove 43 with which it is in alinement, and thus the pointed end of the pin will pass down the passageway 42 first, the opposite end of the pin resting upon the slide 40 until the pin has become tipped downwardly at its pointed end sufficiently to slide down said passageway, and is directed during this downward movement, point first, into the lower part 42 of said passageway, being guided into said lower part by the converging sides 42, 42 of said passageway. The pin then passes down the helical spring portion 44 of the raceway and into the sleeve 49 in the arm 45. The rocker arms 74 and 82 are at this time in the position illustrated in Fig. 9, with the recess 80 in alinement with the hole in the sleeve 49, and with the stop-plate 87 extending across the bottom of the recess 80 and across the hole 81. The pin now will pass in a vertical position into the sleeve 78, with its point resting upon the upper surface of the stop-plate 87. The link 89 now moves the rocker-arm 82, and the rocker-arm 74 is rocked, by the rocker arm 82, through the spring 86, until the rear end of the rocker arm 74 abuts against the stop-screw 88. Upon a further movement of the rocker-arm 82, the stop-plate 87 will move out of alinement with the hole 81, the spring 86 being compressed to allow this movement, while the rocker-arm 74 remains stationary. The hole 81 is at this time in alinement with the hole in the block 93 and the pin is held in a vertical position. The driver is now driven downwardly by the lever 60 and the pin is driven into the block 93 until its pointed lower end projects below the upper surface of the work-table and the lower surface of the block which rests thereon. The cutters 95 are now brought forward and coact with each other to cut off the pointed end of the pin. The driver and cutters then recede and the operation is repeated with another pin and block.

While I have illustrated and described a rocker arm 74 as the preferred form of carrier for carrying the pins one by one from the bottom of the raceway to place them beneath the driver preparatory to their being driven in the material, I do not wish to limit my invention to this specific form of carrier, viz., a rocker arm, as it is evident that without departing from the spirit of my invention some other form of carrier might be utilized, such, for instance, as a slide.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire by Letters Patent to se-' cure is:

1. A machine for feeding pins pointed at one end only having, in combination, a raceway in two parts, viz., an upper part and a lower part, each of said parts provided with a passageway adapted to guide said pins, the lower end of the passage in said upper part being out of alinement with the upper end of the passageway in said lower part, a carrier interposed between said parts and provided with a slot extending therethrough adapted to receive one of said pins in a horizontal position, said carrier being slidable transversely of said raceway, the upper end of said lower part being grooved on opposite sides to receive the pointed ends of said pins.

2. A machine for feeding pins pointed at one end only having, in combination, a slide provided with a slot extending therethrough and adapted to receive one of said pins in a horizontal position and a raceway located beneath said slide having a passageway therein adapted to guide said pins, the upper end of said passageway terminating at the under side of said slide and grooved on opposite sides to receive the pointed ends of said pins, the length of said slot and the width of said passageway at its upper end being each substantially equal to the length of said pin.

3. A machine for feeding pins pointed at one end only having, in combination, a slide provided with a slot extending therethrough and adapted to receive one of said pins in a horizontal position and a raceway located beneath said slide and having a passageway therein adapted to guide said pins, the up per end of said passageway terminating at the under side of said slide and grooved on opposite sides to receive the pointed ends of said pins, the length of said slot and the width of said passageway at its upper end being each substantiallyequal to the length of said pin, the opposite sides of said passageway converging downwardly and terminating in a vertical passageway substantially less in width than the length of said am. 1 a. A machine for feeding and driving pins pointed at one end only having, in combination, a raceway provided with a passageway adapted to hold said pins in a vertical position, a driver, a rocker arm having a recess therein adapted to receive one of said pins in a vertical position, a second rocker arm concentrically mounted with said first named rocker arm, a plate thereon adapted to project across the bottom of said recess, and a spring interposed between said rocker arms, means to rock said second rocker arm, and a stop which said firstnamed rocker arm is adapted to engage, whereby said first-named rocker arm may be moved until said recess shall aline alternately with said passageway and said driver and said plate may be moved alternately across and out of alinement with said recess. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

YVARREN F. FRASER.

WVitnesses:

LOUIS A. JONES, CHARLES S. GOODING.'

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

